beam me to gwangju

A hearty bunch! The Bird Man Club of Gwangju

2009-01-14T13:32:00.006+09:00

If you ever imagined paragliders were a tough crowd, this is the crew you would be thinking of! Some of them like An Byong Jan (second from the right) belong to the very first pilots in Korea promoting paragliding over here.
The site where this picture was taken is only a few kilometers away from Gwangju-city and the Museum. Its take-off is barely visible right above the heads in the little saddle, the landing zone would be behind the photographers back and the difference in height merely 80 m.

Paragliders in Gwangju

2009-01-14T12:23:00.007+09:00

The ones familiar with my passion for paragliding were probably expecting this. I had refrained from taking equipment to Korea, but eventually I had to bump into some pilots sooner or later. Yes, I had seen wings on the riverbank of Gwangju, but did not approach them since it looked like a single pilot or student groundhandling his wing.
But now we are in the middle of winter vacation! Combined with the favorable weather conditions this lead me to meet three different groups of paragliders in just over 5 days - it seems I will get airborne over here after all, profiting from the incredible hospitality of Korean people!
Here are some further links if you are interested:
http://www.korea-para.co.kr
http://www.flykorea.co.kr

Viel Glück im Neuen Jahr!

2009-01-05T14:36:00.000+09:00

On the street

2008-12-26T00:37:00.006+09:00

this food vendor seems not affected or changed by a day like Christmas - nor has any other business I have encountered, at least on the surface level of the street.
(once again I have been at Yatap, a southerly suburb in the typical architectural mixture of downtown-like business buildings, fields plowed under and shopping malls a-go-go)

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

2008-12-26T00:21:00.003+09:00

alle Weihnachtsbäume die ich gesehen habe, waren aus Lichterketten zusammengebaut - keinen einzigen "richtigen" Tannenbaum habe ich gefunden. Das mag nun an meinem fehlenden Enthusiasmus oder der dicken Erkältung liegen: Weihanchten in Seoul werde ich positiv als eine noch weitere Stufe der Farb- und Beleuchtungsschlacht in dieser Stadt in Erinnerung behalten: Merry Christmas to you all!

Which one is the X-mas tree?

2008-12-24T12:41:00.004+09:00

Always a special sight to walk the streets of a korean city by night, but is this true only to the eyes of Europeans? To me it seems I have never experienced such a convergence of advertisement, a clustering of neon signs, an onslaught of coloured light. Combine this with a korean faible for appropriating english terms into Hangul and I smile brightly: Is this only because I pick up on reading skills, or is it a potential discovery for future art work?

Finally found a korean limit...

2008-12-24T11:16:00.008+09:00

...to eating: At six in the morning, in the backside alleys of Busan I did not even see a street light - the only light came from a "24"-market, one of those 7/11-type all-night-open minimarts to be found on just about every second street corner. This one provides the light for this little street vendors wagon - all covered up at this hour, but certainly bustling at 10 again (this one in the area between the train station and the port of Busan).
Even when finding myself in the typical "not-like-to-be-in" situation of a big city (and Busan has about 3.5 mil.) I have never encountered an adrenalin enriching situation ...so far. And the street vendors as well as the stands in the markets hardly prepare much more than a covering with a tarp.

The ponds of Biwon Garden...

2008-12-12T17:24:00.012+09:00

...still fascinate me, almost as much as the first time I had seen them in 2006. What sparked my interest then was hearing about the architectural concept behind Buyong-ji (maby the most familiar site of the Biwon Garden), reflecting the asian cosmology of round heaven and rectangular earth. If you remember my earlier sculptural works based on maps of the earth you understand my interest and fascination. Now, on thursdays I am in the habit of visiting Changdeokgung palace and its garden to document several sites, looking to wrap up these concepts in an art work who can reflect the beauty of this spot.
This week I found out about the winter schedule for the garden: Visitors are only permitted on guided tours and will not be shown the entire garden (unlike from april till november, where you can visit the garden on thursdays for the entire day). So after strolling along with a japanese tour I spent a couple of hours trying to explain my interest in the Cultural Heritage Administration. Even though I did´nt succeed in documenting the ponds I had wanted to, they pointed me in the direction for getting permission for further visits while presenting me with their publication from the past year - I wish the Germans (...or fill in other nationality...) would consider this a way to treat the visitors at their "Ausländerbehörde"!

December-Dog-Days

2008-12-12T13:23:00.010+09:00

Am I obsessed with dogs? No, I don´t think so - just missing one when seeing one, especially these good natured, calm korean dogs. And here I seem to run across quite a few litters, one here right next to my busstop, another next to the construction site of the new bus terminal, a third one travelling in the cab of a pickup.

Wie füttere ich denn ...

2008-12-10T11:39:00.012+09:00

...einen Blog?
Es allen recht zu machen, geht kaum selbst wenn ich es wollte.
In der Hoffnung
er wäre (allgemein) verständlich, habe ich diesen Blog auf Englisch begonnen, nicht zuletzt weil es ja ein gemeinsamer Nenner mit den von mir anvisierten Lesern/Betrachtern ist. Andererseits will ich mich nicht auf eine Sprache festlegen, sondern die Bilder sprechen lassen - ich eher schweigen.
Bestimmte Gedanken und Konzepte jedoch in Bilder unmissverständlich umzusetzen, gelingt mir schlecht - liegt es daran, daß ich mich zu sehr von einer Situation leiten lasse? Oft empfinde ich es als zu gestelzt, verwerfe Ideen als lahmende Ansätze - eventuell setze ich auch meine Ansprüche zu hoch?
Wahrscheinlich werde ich weiterhin bei einer Mischung aus mehreren Sprachen und Bildern bleiben...

Ich merke wie der Aufenthalt hier an mir Spuren hinterlässt (wie es anderen ergeht, weiss ich nicht). Meine Bänder und Gelenke schmerzen von den stunden- manchmal tagelangen Wanderungen durch Strassen, Märkte und Parkanlagen. Mein Koreanisch ist nichtig, hinterlässt aber ein schlechtes Gewissen. Der Tagesablauf wird zu einer Routine, so wie der Gang zum Supermarkt, dem Imbißstand (mmmh, Odeng!), dem Kaffeetrinken (aah Pascucci, here I come) oder den langen Fahrten in Bus und U-bahn (wird zu einem späteren Kapitel).
Und ich merke wie mir die Tage hier zwischen den Händen zerrinnen. Alles scheint beschleunigt abzulaufen und doch sind zuviele Dinge noch zu sehen, zuviele Orte zu besuchen, zuviele Projekte im Kopf, die ich gerne umsetzen wollte, zu wenig Zeit für Leute, Freunde, neue Bekanntschaften...

Everyday life of the street vendor

2008-12-10T11:02:00.006+09:00

...is made up of plastic, cardboard and the eventual goods, no matter what you sell.
Is it sensible to dress up food like Shinsegae does (the big and luxurious department store, where you can spend afternoon´s wandering around trying this or that, forgetting all warnings and leaving with a whole in your pocket) or better just do it this street vendors way?
At least to an artist´s eye such diversity enhances the palette: While questioning the reasons how such similarities and little diversities could work for the vendors, I find it adds up and enriches the fiest for the eye. Still, I remember the amount of displays saturates my visual curiosity quickly and tires me down!

Gwangju river by night

2008-12-09T13:47:00.006+09:00

You might ask yourself why this location at the river shows up in several photographs? Since the downtown area closest to the museum is located on the opposite side of the river, I need to cross it in order to go to the market, take the bus to Seoul or simply take the bike for a spin in the alleys. I can do this by crossing one of the bridges or when on foot using one of the stone paths through the river.
This images obviously was taken coming home on a late bus - but I cannot explain the eerie blue light creeping over the back side of the hill.

Yatap chihuahua

2008-12-01T10:05:00.010+09:00

have you ever thought Beverly Hills Chihuahua was only a film? This one is a street vendors gem and I will give it some shape-up to the Janus-Chihuahua of Yatap (stay tuned, as they say).
It is not the only dog-surprise you are into when strolling through the neighborhoods - take for instance Moran: A man`s place it seems - where the alc is good for the spirit and the dogmeet for the stamina?
Found only one place with more men-clusters than plants - art piece to follow, if I can retrieve without beaten up...
Yatap, by the way, is the subway stop after Moran on the yellow line going south to Bundang - from Moran I get on the bus crossing the hill ridge separating the valley of Bundang from the one where Gwangju (and other little cities) is located. Fastest way to understand? Try google earth...

Drop Zone Open

2008-11-29T09:35:00.000+09:00

It took me a long time to decide on using a blogger: First of all I rarely like to follow a trend and blogs seem to be one of the absolute must in Korea (sorry for not feeding this on a standard Korean website - by nature these seem to be a graphic designers chaos and nightmare). Second I only know of a few good blog pages and a lot of them I do not even want to get into - but this might apply to websites, cook bocks and art work as well.
Intending to share some impressions, to give more insight than an email or short telephone call, I will not fill it chronologically, but with ideas, themes and materials collected over time. Some of it will reappear in my art work later on, the bigger part will drown slowly in the swamp of good ideas.